More delays as Millennium train bugs are ironed out

Rail commuters may face network delays caused by the Millennium train until the end of next month, its manufacturer says.

After at least 23 incidents on the CityRail network associated with the troubled new train since June 2, including the Milsons Point episode last week that affected about 50,000 homeward bound commuters, the problems are likely to continue for weeks.

Stephen Gillies, managing director of Downer EDI, the company behind the Millennium train, said it was going through a debugging phase until the end of next month.

The contract provides for a debugging in the commissioning of the train, Mr Gillies said.

He defended the recent performance of the train, which was ordered off the tracks on April 10 by the co-ordinator-general of rail, Vince Graham, for a string of problems including electrical interference with the signalling system in the city underground.

Of the 23 incidents, fewer than one-third laster longer than five minutes, and many related to the problematic Sydney infrastructure rather than the train, Mr Gillies said.

He noted that reports were generated by any incident that stopped services for more than three minutes.

He said those who had built the train were upset about the negative publicity surrounding it, which was so highly technically advanced it was one of only two or three trains in the world with a crumple zone like that of modern cars to absorb an impact.

A spokesman for the Transport Services Minister, Michael Costa, said EDI was on notice about the train's performance and the Government was considering enforcing its legal rights if performance did not improve.

Mr Gillies said that if there was a terminal or endemic problem with the product there was always a right of recourse from the buyer.

In November State Rail signed a deal with EDI that in effect waived its rights to millions of dollars of liquidated damages, due because the train was behind schedule. This increased the burden on the taxpayer by about $100 million.